IST

So for those of that were concerned after not hearing from me in a while (both of you), I just wanted to write and let you know I’m alive and well.

I just returned to Chan di Igreja from a week of Peace Corps training on the island of Santiago. The training was interesting, with a lot of theory (3 or 4 days) on international development work and then a day full of more practical information, such as project development, proposal writing, and sources for possible funding. We also voted on Peer Support members (like a counselor for volunteers), Volunteer Action Committee Members (a liaison between the volunteers and the staff), had a Safety and Security session, and listened to a Dr. tell us about all the terrible things that can befall us if we don’t take good care of ourselves. All in all, pretty good. The crappy part was the expense, timing, location, food and weather. We were at a half-way finished hotel up on top of a mountain and it was “prop frio.” (Friggin’ Cold.) I’ve got pretty much nothing in the way of warm clothes and I really could have used them this week. As far as meals went, we had no options except what the hotel served, and that at a very pretty penny. I spent more on food last week than I did all last month. Also, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Not only did they not schedule any time during the training to see our host families again, but Christmas break started last week so all of the kids were out of school (and thus it would have been a great week to be in our villages) and the teachers in our group were rushed to get grades turned it etc., and of course, Holiday Travel is a pain in the ass everywhere, even Cape Verde. Boats and flights were all full or delayed, hotels booked, prices higher than normal, blah blah blah. Everyone seems to have made it back in one piece, even the 2 volunteers from Sao Nicolau, who got to take a 12 hour boat trip back to their island.

A word about the boats here. They are not the hulking, steady, well-maintained ferries that you can find in Seattle and other parts in the Pacific Northwest, nor are they the shabby little car ferries that tote people back and forth to Port Aransas. These are a poor mix of the two, with room for perhaps 250 passengers on an open deck up top, and a dozen cars below. The guide books for Cape Verde recommend taking boats as transportation only in cases of “extreme emergency,” as they are “neither safe nor reliable.” Outstanding. It’s REALLY windy this time of year, and these broad-sided bastards pitch and toss and lurch and sway in a way that makes Cape Verdians….well…vomit. A lot. For an island people, Cape Verdians are amazingly unaccustomed to sea travel. When you step on to the boat, the first thing that happens is a guy gives you a little plastic baggy to put your barf in. Everyone takes one…many ask for a couple extras. Many of the Cape Verdians feel ill immediately after stepping foot on the boat…breathing deeply into their plastic baggies, eyes closed, their faces a portrait of pure dread. Sure enough, minutes after departing the port, the boat starts squirming, and (in the case of my trip from Mindelo to Porto Novo yesterday) once you broach the harbor and make it out into the channel (where the wind was actually howling) 200 or so people, almost simultaneously, begin to wretch and heave and fill their plastic baggies. Some try to spew over the side, but then there’s the wind, so a lot of it ends up on the shoes. Some just throw up right their on the floor in front of them. (The deck has been astro-turfed, to enable easy cleaning.) Babies cry, children wail, old people moan and swoon. Mothers struggle to contain their own their own puke and that of their kids. The guy with the baggies is very busy. It goes on like this for the pretty much al of the 50 minutes or so that it takes to arrive in Porto Novo. The line to get off the boat forms about 15 minutes before the ride is actually over. It was a spectacle like I’ve never seen before. I’m not sure the cause of it either. I am less accustomed to sea travel than people from my island (I think most Santo Antaoians probably take that boat several times a year), but I didn’t ever feel even the least bit queasy, nor did any of the other tourists that I saw on the boat yesterday. Anyway, I can’t imagine what the 12 hour trip to Sao Nicolau was like, but I certainly don’t envy the 2 volunteers who took that trip.

Hmm…what else? Not much. I talked on the phone to Benvinda (I call her Benny though and will refer to her as such from now on) pretty much every night while I was away and it was good to see her yesterday. She came over right after I got home and brought some rice and beans to east for lunch. Apparently the power was out for quite a while during my trip, because the food in my fridge all turned to soup and sludge, and she and I spent the better part of yesterday trying to clean it out. Everyone else in town is asking me if I’ve graded their tests yet (I have) and if they did well enough to get a diploma (they did). The entire town is totally decked out with Christmas lights and they’re playing holiday music in the plaza, and although I’ll miss my family terribly on Christmas, I’m glad to be “back home” in Chan di Igreja. I did some Christmas shopping in Mindelo and Praia and have a few things for my friends (a blouse for Benvinda, some crayons for her little sister Nelinda and tea for their mom, a journal for Gisella, bottles of wine for the guys, and a matchbox car for Djonny Jr.). There are “big parties” in Chan di Igreja on the 24th, so I’ll go to those for Christmas Eve. I have plans to go swimming in Cruzinha on Christmas morning with some of the kids from my English class, and then I’ll walk back home and spend the rest of the day with Benny and her family. She’s told me that I need to bring my one good shirt over so that she can iron it before we go to church, which I am NOT looking forward to. Anyway, that’s what the next few days look like. Then Benny and I will go to Mindelo for New Year’s Eve (she said that she gets sick on the boat like everyone else). Looking forward to the next week or so!

Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about the annual meeting that my association had this morning. I’m still reeling from it actually, or I’d tell you right now. I love the people in the agencia (association) and I know that they mean well and have Chan di Igreja’s best interests at heart, but it’s as if they’ve actually taken colleges courses in procrastination, tardiness, inefficiency, and ways to minimize their time. Imagine everything you ever learned (and have probably forgotten) in a government or civics class. Ok…got it in your head? Now imagine the exact opposite, and you’ll still have no idea of what I’m talking about. Anyway, I’ll save that for tomorrow.

Happy Holidays Everyone!